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posted: March 31st, 2011 |
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This page begins with March 19th, a trip to Mt. Kagenobu (727 meters = 2,385 feet) and Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro (670 meters = 2,199 feet) and then down Hikage Creek. There were no events after that, but there is another "Great Eastern Japan Earthquake" related story and some images from around the internet asking for help. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin March 19th |
On March 19th Kazuya and I went out to Takao and took a bus to the Kobotoke Bus Stop. This was our first time out to the mountains since the earthquake and it was nice to escape from the stress and concern for the day. Our purpose in going out was to check on the progress of spring flowers in the mountains. The first shot shows that the flowers are definitely starting to appear. It is a Viola grypoceras, our most common violet, but we took photos of it anyway we were so thrilled to find spring flowers. The 2nd shot is another violet - a Viola hondoensis. As we hiked up towards Mt. Kagenobu we found some Cymbidium orchids (Cymbidium goeringii) blooming too.
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 Mar19_002_KagenobuTrail _Viola_grypoceras_RC |
 Mar19_004_KagenobuTrail _Viola_hondoensis_RC |
 Mar19_022_Kagenobu Trail_Cymbidium_goeringii_RC |
Here are another 3 shots of Cymbidium goeringii orchids. It is so wonderful to find orchids in the wild.
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 Mar19_031_Kagenobu Trail_Cymbidium_goeringii_RC |
 Mar19_039_Kagenobu Trail_Cymbidium_goeringii_RC |
 Mar19_041_Kagenobu Trail_Cymbidium_goeringii_RC |
This shows what the area looks like where we find Cymbidium goeringii orchids. It always looks like this. The photos cannot show you how steep the ground truly is, I guess it's because you can't see enough width in a photo. Anyway, the slope is steep and it's difficult to walk.
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 Mar19_042_Kagenobu Trail_CymbidiumArea_RC |
 Mar19_046_KagenobuTrail _CymbidiumArea_Kazuya_RC |
 March19th_MtKagenobu_043 _Cymbidium_goeringii_RC |
Here is one final Cymbidium goeringii orchid shot. After this we went to the summit of Mt. Kagenobu (727 meters = 2,385 feet) and ate 1/2 of our lunch. Then we proceeded to Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro (670 meters = 2,199 feet) and finished our lunch. Finally, we hiked down the Hikage Creek trail. The center photo in this row was taken on the Hikage Creek Trail and it shows Kazuya on a 100% slope attempting to take a photo of a beautiful Viola japonica. The 3rd shot shows the incredible Viola japonica which Kazuya is photographing in the center photo.
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 Mar19_058_KagenobuTrail _Cymbidium_goeringii_RC |
 Mar19_069_Hikage Creek_Kazuya_RC |
 Mar19_074_Hikage Creek_Viola_japonica_RC |
Down near the bottom of the Hikage Creek trail we found some Anemone flowers. We think the first photo is Anemone pseudoaltaica and the 2nd one is Anemone raddeana. Notice the difference in the leaves - the A. pseudoaltaica has more complex leaves than the A. raddeana.
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 Mar19_081_Hikage Creek_Anemone_sp_RC |
 March19th_Hikage_ 075_Anemone_sp_RC |
The Chrysosplenium album var. stamineum is much more abundant now than it was back on March 6th when we were previously here. Back on Page 1, in Row 3, you can see that the flowers were still in the process of opening, back on March 6th, whereas today - March 19th - the flowers are fully open.
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 March19th_Hikage_088_ Chrysosplenium_album_var_stamineum_RC |
 Mar19_100_HikageCreek_ Chrysosplenium_album_var_stamineum_RC |
| End March 19th, Begin Earthquake Stuff |
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week of work canceled. So, money is going to be short this summer and for that reason we decided that it would be best if I just quickly went to Alaska, renewed my Driver's License and returned as quickly as possible. That would minimize the expenses. Therefore I left on March 24th, flew from Narita Airport to Seattle and then on to Anchorage, spent 2 nights in a hotel there, renewed my Driver's License and then flew from Anchorage to Seattle and then on to Narita Airport in Japan. The total trip - from the time I walked out my front door until I walked back through my front door, was just about 104 hours. Considering the total layover time of over 16 hours, it was a pretty quick trip. I accomplished everything I needed to accomplish - or at least nearly everything. Oh, I was home on March 28th at about 5:30 PM - and I was worn out from that kind of a whirlwind trip. |
Sorry, but that's all there is for the month of March. It was a bad month for getting out and enjoying life.
After the March 11th "Great Eastern Japan Earthquake" things were scary and scary. Although we managed to make it out
on both March 13th and 19th things got weird after that. Kazuya made it out to the mountains on the 27th, but I was in the USA.
"What?", you ask! Yes, that's correct. Kazuya and I had initially planned to take a 3 week vacation to the USA (Alaska and Oregon)
this coming July. I had to go back sometime before my birthday this year to renew my Alaska Driver's License, so we had planned
to make the most of that necessary trip. Well, after the earthquake, all but 1 of my English classes were canceled at least until
April 4th and at least 2 of them have been permanently canceled (I guess it's no longer necessary for those company's to use English?).
Kazuya also had one
Here are some images which I culled from the thousands on the internet which are basically asking for your help and support. Were you aware that "The #quakebook (2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake) will be available very soon (within a few days) as an electronic download, and later, in a print edition and that all revenues from the QuakeBook Book will go to the Japan Red Cross. Click HERE (new window) for more information.
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 QuakeBook_CoverR.jpg |
 Help_Japan04R.jpg |
 Help_Japan02R.jpg |
Here are some additional images asking for help and support which I culled from the thousands on the internet. If you want to see more, go to Google.com and type "help Japan" into the box.
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 Help_Japan03R.jpg |
 SupportJapan_TShirtR.jpg |
 Help_Japan01R.jpg |
| End Page 2, End March 2011's Photos |
Here are links to separate web pages - all of them will open in a new window (or new tab). The first link shows some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV. The 2nd link shows our entire DVD collection in DVD Profiler (if you're asking yourself what might be good to rent for the weekend). The DVD's will be sorted by date purchased. You can click on the "Title" Column to sort that way if you desire. The 3rd link shows our entire DVD collection in php DVD Profiler, which is much more sophisticated than the plain vanilla DVD Profiler just above it. The 4th link takes you to a set of pages which show you the FRONT cover-art of our entire DVD collection.
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 February 22, 2009 - DVD Collection & Home Theater System   
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 Please check it out by clicking on the above button. (Click on the "Studies of Plants and Wildlife" link in the new window.) |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. I suspect that next month things will more or less return to normal. |
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Link to Amazon.com (new window).
We get 2% of whatever you spend if you go to Amazon from this link!! Please shop on Amazon from here.
| If you would like to donate to our hiking & traveling fund or show your appreciation for our efforts you can donate through PayPal. A single donation will entitle you to request a single full-sized photo IN THE DONATION MONTH - which you may then use as a desktop wallpaper or whatever. The copyright will be retained by us and the photo will be inconspicuously marked with the copyright symbol (©), year and photographer's name. (Donation probably not tax deductible.) |